FROM THE BLOG

Keeping burnout at bay. After 35 years in the industry (did I just write that?), I’ve been fortunate to have seen some fascinating changes; new technology, new ways to slice and dice messaging, and new techniques. While I don’t miss designing ads for the Yellow Pages, with new media comes new challenges. Sure, the evolution […]

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a lousy stock photo’s thousand words are ‘crap.’ OK, maybe some of them are ‘lazy.’ The Image Tells the Story As a lover of words (it’s called an octothorpe, not a hashtag), it pains me to admit that for most people, the visual element is better […]

What was once a simple spike (first attributed to Homer Jones of the New York Giants in 1965) has evolved into a choreographed party – so long as it’s not deemed ‘excessive’ (whatever that means). Yes, it’s exciting; your team scored. You had the good fortune of being the one to carry (or catch) the […]

“Let’s practice what we preach” … that was our mindset before we began the task of rebranding ourselves. The goal was to do exactly what we do for our clients, but this time, do it for ourselves. May sound corny or a bit idealistic, but this approach came with some pretty cool benefits. It gave […]

There are a lot of great ways to burn money (we’ve seen ‘em all). Our favorites are the ones where you spend a lot of money, but don’t spend it the right way and get no results. Hilarity ensues. If you’re getting too many high-quality leads, follow-up meetings, and sales from trade shows, perhaps try […]

If you’ve opened a national newspaper, INC, Fortune, Fast Company, Wired or read any news story about fastest growing cities in the last few years, each recognizes Austin as a great place to live. But why? The cost of living is rising, traffic is a nightmare, and the city is in constant change. Of course, […]

You know that saying about the ‘cobbler’s kids with no shoes’ (implying he’s too busy with work to take care of himself). Have you ever noticed that it’s the ‘cobbler’s kids’ and not the cobbler himself? I bet the cobbler didn’t just have shoes, he had really nice ones (for the record, my great-grandfather was […]

Advertising should make you visible, not invisible. Question: What was the sweat factor of your last ad campaign? You know, how nervous were you when your company’s last marketing piece was so “outside the box” that you were sweating bullets because you bypassed the “safe” or “expected” solution? It wasn’t that the creative was off […]

Spoke Friday, The Best End to Any Week. How our intimate get-togethers turned into a networking party. When Spoke started, we used a lot of freelance designers, illustrators, and developers. We thought it was a shame that these talented people never got to know each other to the degree that typical co-workers did. We knew […]

Spoke Friday has been a tradition going back since we opened in 2008. The partners were meeting so many people that we worried about following up with everyone. So we decided, why not host a happy hour and bring everyone to us. We held happy hours every 2 weeks in 2008. But then we realized […]